Packed to the Rafters, which came to a teary end on Seven last night, was a perfectly-executed drama from a network known for producing a hugely successful stream of family-friendly series.

The Seven in-house drama did everything it set out to when it launched in 2008: attract big audiences with a cinematic suburban drama about Australians facing contemporary issues. Domestic violence, car accidents, infidelity, late babies, dementia – they were all in there.

The show's incredible success was magnified by the dramas which were flopping on rival networks - does anyone remember Scorched and The Strip on Nine?

But its creators – Seven drama supremos Bevan Lee, John Holmes and Jo Porter – may have made one mistake: naming it “Packed to the Rafters”.

Porter, who now runs drama for Fremantle Media, said in 2008: "We wanted to explore a new family model – the concept of the empty nesters who have their kids move back in. It's a rich source of comedy and drama, having all the ages under one roof having to learn to live with one another again.”

But the empty nesters theme was to spell the drama’s demise after six series. The troubles for Rafters started when the show was so successful – two million viewers each week – and the fresh, talented young actors were picked up and moved into other roles.

One by one the Rafters kids and their partners moved out – Jessica Marais, Hugh Sheridan, Jessica MacNamee, Zoe Ventoura – and the show’s premise collapsed:.

As the veteran actress Rebecca Gibney, who plays Julie Rafter, told TV Tonight this week: “The show was always about empty nesters whose children come back and live with the family, but after five years the kids have decided to move on again. So you can hardly call a show Packed to the Rafters and not have it ‘packed.’ It just wouldn’t have made sense."

It is unusual to cancel a drama which is still pulling audiences over a million. After all, the ABC is struggling to reach that with Time of Our Lives, as is Ten with Offspring. And according to OzTAM ratings, the finale was watched by 1.3 million viewers over two hours - a great result in a later timeslot.

But Seven decided it couldn’t stretch the good will any longer and it should go out on a high.

And so after six series of the Rafters doing everything for their kids and their parents, Julie and Dave changed their minds at the last moment and hit the road with a three-year-old in a old blue van.

Inside the empty house was left a bottle of champagne and a note: "We hope you're as happy as we have been". Cue tears.

As the family snapshots came down off the wall at the Rafters and highlights of previous episodes were played, fans tweeted about crying buckets for their favourite show.

The magic of television and the chemistry which made the Rafters family seem like a real family we knew lasted until the very end.